Nearly all syringes used today have been developed to provide individual injections of a medication or medications to a human or animal patient using a single syringe/needle, meaning that one syringe (and one needle) are used to administer the medication. If two medications are needed for a patient, then two syringes (and two needles) are used with each medication and are administered at separate times and at separate parts of the patient's body. The use of multiple syringes and injections not only prolongs the injection process, but it also increases the exposure to dangerous needle “sticks” on the part of the person who is administering the injections. Similarly, these devices do not adequately address the increased trauma a patient experiences with multiple injections.
Attempts have been made to provide devices that hold more than one syringe so that medications contained in each syringe are administered to a patient, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,467,096; 3,552,394; 4,150,669; 6,312,412; and D246,187. However, these devices are relatively complicated, are expensive to manufacture, and do not provide safety mechanisms to reduce potential inadvertent injuries from the syringe needles.
Thus, there remains an unmet need in the art for apparatus and methods that reduce the amount of time to deliver multiple injections, reduces the trauma experienced by a patient, and/or increases healthcare safety. There also remains a need for such devices that are relatively simple to manufacture.